| Like many government agencies, school districts like to keep their cards close to their chests, and don't like to hear from citizens. |
| In the Maura Larkins' case, Shinoff's associate Kelly Angell told the judge, regarding Chula Vista Elementary School District's refusal to answer questions: "I just can't answer them. I can't answer them and protect my client." Link: See page 3 lines 7-9 of Dec. 31, 2002 transcript of discovery conference in San Diego Superior Court case number GIC 781970 |
| Daniel Shinoff, the favorite lawyer of San Diego County Office of Education The SDCOE-Joint Power Authority Director Diane Crosier favors Dan Shinoff to represent school districts, apparently because Mr. Shinoff keeps important documents locked up in his files, and presents perjured testimony. Does he do it to benefit children? Or to promote a system that keeps dollars flowing to school attorneys without solving school problems? |
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| Note If you have trouble seeing the pages of the transcript that appears when you click on the Dec. 31 2002 transcript link above, I've discovered that the text magically appears if you click on the blank page where it's supposed to be! I'm a novice at web design, so I really don't know why it does this. M.L. |
| Do Terry Ryan and Dan Shinoff represent the district, or do they represent Jim Kelly? San Diego Union Tribune article about the November 2006 school board election Nov. 9, 2006 by Leonel Sanchez "In the high school district race, Hoy, Sobel and Andrew Sundstrom, the other candidate backed by the teachers union, complained after district Superintendent Terry Ryan sent a telephone recording to parents in Santee on Monday that they believe was meant to boost Kelly's candidacy. "In the message, Ryan said Kelly did not support the proposed relocation of a school for students with behavioral problems next to West Hills High School, and had directed him to find other options. "Dan Shinoff, the district's legal counsel, said the superintendent's message was meant to be informational..." |
San Diego Union Tribune
Teacher-sex cases lead to
more training about conduct
By Leonel Sanchez
UNION-TRIBUNE
December 8, 2007
The Grossmont Union High
School District is
strengthening its teacher
conduct training in light of
three arrests of district
teachers on sex-related
charges involving students
during the past year.
“We're not looking the other
way,” district spokeswoman
Catherine Martin said. “It's a
terrible thing that has
occurred.”
[Maura's note: That's a
relief. Looking the
other way is exactly
what Grossmont and
its lawyer, Daniel
Shinoff, did after two
shooting incidents that
killed two students.
The district refused to
have a conference on
school violence;
Shinoff denied that
bullying led to the
shooting.]
The cases shocked parents,
teachers and students at
the two East County schools
involved: West Hills High
School in Santee and Helix
Charter High School in La
Mesa.
The cases and other recent
arrests around the county –
including those of an
Eastlake High School
campus assistant and a La
Jolla Country Day School
basketball coach – have
happened at a time when
teacher sexual misconduct
is drawing national attention.
An Associated Press
investigation published last
month found that 2,570
educators nationwide,
including 313 in California,
were punished or removed
for sexual misconduct
between 2001 and 2005...
Charol Shakeshaft, an
expert on teacher sex abuse
who heads the educational
leadership department at
Virginia Commonwealth
University, said cases have
always existed but were
underreported...
Last month, John C.
Holler, a teacher for 15
years at West Hills High, was
arrested on suspicion of
molesting a 17-year-old
female student in his car
outside the school. A friend
of the student alerted school
administrators, who
contacted law enforcement...
On Thursday, former Helix
High music teacher and
band director Jessica
Ashley Kahal, 22, pleaded
guilty to having sex with a
17-year-old male student
and faces up to one year in
jail... Her roommate reported
the relationship to
authorities.
In February, former Helix
High assistant band director
Frank Palumbo, 28,
pleaded guilty to two
charges of unlawful sexual
intercourse with a 17-year-
old student last December
and was placed on five
years' probation.
The girl's father reported
the relationship to
authorities...
A sheriff's sex crimes
investigator, crisis
counselors and a lawyer
who advises the
district on employee
conduct will lead
the session, which will
be in addition to regular
sexual harassment training,
Martin said.
[Note: Is Dan
Shinoff the "lawyer
who advises the
district on
employee conduct"
the same one who
has made a career
out of denying that
students were
abused, or saying
"she wanted it"?
See Fred Kamper
case, Shirk case,
special education
girl in Sweetwater...]
Staff members are
instructed from the outset of
their employment about
proper behavior around
students, Martin said. All
employees are fingerprinted
and undergo background
checks before they are
hired.
Helix High principal Doug
Smith said there is high
awareness of the issue at
his school. He questioned
whether more training is the
answer...
[Maura's note: How
about creating an
atmosphere where
issues are
discussed openly
and honestly? That
would require
keeping lawyers
AWAY FROM THE
SCHOOL.]
Teacher-sex cases lead to
more training about conduct
By Leonel Sanchez
UNION-TRIBUNE
December 8, 2007
The Grossmont Union High
School District is
strengthening its teacher
conduct training in light of
three arrests of district
teachers on sex-related
charges involving students
during the past year.
“We're not looking the other
way,” district spokeswoman
Catherine Martin said. “It's a
terrible thing that has
occurred.”
[Maura's note: That's a
relief. Looking the
other way is exactly
what Grossmont and
its lawyer, Daniel
Shinoff, did after two
shooting incidents that
killed two students.
The district refused to
have a conference on
school violence;
Shinoff denied that
bullying led to the
shooting.]
The cases shocked parents,
teachers and students at
the two East County schools
involved: West Hills High
School in Santee and Helix
Charter High School in La
Mesa.
The cases and other recent
arrests around the county –
including those of an
Eastlake High School
campus assistant and a La
Jolla Country Day School
basketball coach – have
happened at a time when
teacher sexual misconduct
is drawing national attention.
An Associated Press
investigation published last
month found that 2,570
educators nationwide,
including 313 in California,
were punished or removed
for sexual misconduct
between 2001 and 2005...
Charol Shakeshaft, an
expert on teacher sex abuse
who heads the educational
leadership department at
Virginia Commonwealth
University, said cases have
always existed but were
underreported...
Last month, John C.
Holler, a teacher for 15
years at West Hills High, was
arrested on suspicion of
molesting a 17-year-old
female student in his car
outside the school. A friend
of the student alerted school
administrators, who
contacted law enforcement...
On Thursday, former Helix
High music teacher and
band director Jessica
Ashley Kahal, 22, pleaded
guilty to having sex with a
17-year-old male student
and faces up to one year in
jail... Her roommate reported
the relationship to
authorities.
In February, former Helix
High assistant band director
Frank Palumbo, 28,
pleaded guilty to two
charges of unlawful sexual
intercourse with a 17-year-
old student last December
and was placed on five
years' probation.
The girl's father reported
the relationship to
authorities...
A sheriff's sex crimes
investigator, crisis
counselors and a lawyer
who advises the
district on employee
conduct will lead
the session, which will
be in addition to regular
sexual harassment training,
Martin said.
[Note: Is Dan
Shinoff the "lawyer
who advises the
district on
employee conduct"
the same one who
has made a career
out of denying that
students were
abused, or saying
"she wanted it"?
See Fred Kamper
case, Shirk case,
special education
girl in Sweetwater...]
Staff members are
instructed from the outset of
their employment about
proper behavior around
students, Martin said. All
employees are fingerprinted
and undergo background
checks before they are
hired.
Helix High principal Doug
Smith said there is high
awareness of the issue at
his school. He questioned
whether more training is the
answer...
[Maura's note: How
about creating an
atmosphere where
issues are
discussed openly
and honestly? That
would require
keeping lawyers
AWAY FROM THE
SCHOOL.]
| San Diego Union Tribune Bulk of school board against law shielding gay, lesbian students By Leonel Sanchez STAFF WRITER December 13, 2007 EAST COUNTY – A majority of the Grossmont high school district board is working with conservative groups trying to overturn an anti- discrimination law that aims to tighten protection for gay, lesbian and transgender students. Last month, four of the five board members joined a federal lawsuit challenging the new law as unconstitutionally vague and a violation of privacy rights... Issue: The board will consider a resolution to ask the state to clarify an anti-discrimination law expected to go into effect next month. The law is expected to go into effect next month. Despite joining the lawsuit, the trustees haven't taken an official position as a board on the law. Tonight, they will consider a resolution to request a legal interpretation of the legislation and its use from state justice and educational officials. The Grossmont Union High School District oversees 11 high schools and some alternative schools in East County. Grossmont boards have had heated debates about homosexual issues over the years. In 1999, the board approved expanding the district's anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. Board President Priscilla Schreiber – who wasn't on the board at the time – led an unsuccessful attempt to recall a board member who voted for the policy. Schreiber and trustees Jim Kelly, Larry Urdahl and Robert Shield are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by the California Education Committee and Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a religious- liberties group. State education law bans all forms of discrimination but doesn't specifically mention discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. The new law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October, will remove the term “sex” as a classification and add “gender” and “sexual orientation.” Opponents take issue with the state's definition of gender because it includes gender-identity and gender-related appearance. They argue that teachers will have a hard time knowing who's who in the classroom, and that boys could pretend to be girls to gain entry into their locker rooms and restrooms. They also oppose changing the wording in state law to ban any teaching or activity that “promotes a discriminatory bias.” State law now bans classroom instruction or school-sponsored activities that “reflect adversely” on gays, lesbians or other protected classes. Opponents argue that under the new law, if a teacher discusses a traditional family, it could be considered discriminatory unless alternative relationships are also covered. “It's a form of indoctrination when you bring that into the schools,” Schreiber said. “It's social engineering.” Supporters of the law dismiss opponents' arguments as scare tactics. They say teachers won't be forced to teach anything outside state-approved curriculum, and that the new law simply clarifies anti-discrimination language in the education code. “I'm surprised they are making a big deal over this,” said Geoff Kors, director of Equality California, which sponsored the legislation... |
| The board wants to make sure that there is no special rule protecting kids who are attacked because someone thinks they are gay. Similarly, if a kid is molested by a heterosexual, the district will likely rise to the defense of the perpetrator. Why? Because their insurance company lawyers want them to. SDCOE-JPA lawyers like Daniel Shinoff will be called in to say things like, "She wanted it," or "The district is protected from responsibility." Looks like it's pretty much open season on all kids, whether they are straight or gay. None of them are safe. |
| Recent Child Molestation Cases |
| No Protection for Gay Students? |
| Grossmont Union High School District (2006-7) Superintendent Terry Ryan, and one board member, Jim Kelly, want to have access to legal counsel at district expense for themselves, They also want to limit access by BOARD MEMBERS to information about the district, and want to prevent board members from visiting schools without notifying Ryan! It seems a safe bet that taxpayers will pay a lot of money to school attorneys to defend the antics of Ryan and Kelly. (See San Diego Union Tribune editorial March 16, 2006) Update March 2007: Terry Ryan announced he will retire. Good decision, Mr. Ryan. |
| Grossmont Union High School District |
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This would be an acceptable response in a criminal case. CVESD could refuse to say anything that would incriminate it, as provided by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. But this is not acceptable in a civil case. If the school board and administration have crimes to hide, they should resign. Otherwise, they should reveal what they've been doing. |
| Grossmont High School District, if it sticks to past practice, will eschew responsibility for the child molestation cases in the article below. |
| Legal Issues at GUHSD |
2006 Election
San Diego Union-Tribune Endorsements
Sobel, Hoy and Sundstrom for Grossmont Union
board
October 5, 2006
What is not to like about a school board candidate
who has helped raise millions for La Mesa parks, a
college district and Grossmont High School,
developed an SAT preparation program, been a
member of two solid bond oversight committees,
served as blue ribbon commissioner for a high school
district, coached high school teams and is a lawyer
and judge pro tem?
Those credentials belong to Ken Sobel, a candidate
for Grossmont Union High School District.
Most school board presidents would jump to get
someone that experienced on the board. Not in
dysfunctional Grossmont Union, however, where
control is paramount, not quality of education or
management of taxpayer dollars.
Grossmont Union High School District
Two board seats open
Grades: 9-12
Schools: 12
Students: 24,788
Employees: 2,454
Area served: 470 square miles
Student ethnicity: white 53%, Hispanic 26%, black 7%
Per pupil spending: $8,290
Current budget: $212.6 million
President Jim Kelly, who has brought four years of
contentiousness to this district and a decade to the
county district before that, is seeing control slip away
from him. He's in an election race with five other
candidates after losing two allies on the board who
chose not to run.
On the ballot are Sobel, retired teacher Richard Hoy,
school custodian Andrew Sundstrom, engineer Shari
Groce, teacher Robert Shield and Kelly.
Consider whom this district is failing to serve:
Parents and students, particularly at Steele Canyon,
making its second attempt to break away from the
district and become a charter school, and charter
school Helix High, seeking to sever its few remaining
ties with the district.
Taxpayers, who entrusted the district with $274
million of bond money. But the district decided to
manage construction in-house and lost its two top
executives. Then, the citizen oversight committee it
named failed repeatedly to meet for lack of a quorum.
Alpine residents, who have longed for a high school
of their own for more than a decade. This district,
under Superintendent Terry Ryan, has no desire for
an Alpine campus and is only going through the
motions. Meantime, the Alpine school proponents
who are trying to woo the district can only be nice,
not candid.
Last December the district launched a proposal to go
all charter, widely seen as a ploy to divert attention
from the breakaway attempts. In April, Supt. Ryan
said nothing was being done on the all-charter plan.
In late July, he recanted his previous statement. (One
of Ryan's statements was accurate; we suspect
everyone knows which one that is.)
Recently, the new deputy superintendent for
business services said the district did not run up as
many years of deficit spending in the last seven
years as previously thought. Question: If Grossmont
Union High School District does not know whether it is
going in the red year after year, who does?
Kelly likes to demonize his opponents: The
cause of the district's problems are liberals
or Democrats or teacher unions – anyone
but whom he sees in the mirror. Desperate
for allies, though, Kelly has endorsed
Shield, a member of the teachers union
negotiating committee in another district.
We like Sobel for his extensive record of
service. An attorney, he understands the
district is wasting money by hiring five
separate law firms. Simply building an alumni
database, Sobel said, would allow the district to grow
donations many times over.
Hoy, now retired, won honors during his career as a
teacher. He has been involved with the Grossmont
Education Association in labor negotiations. The
district's all-charter plan? “I think it's dead. You can't
impose charters from the top down.”
Sundstrom is a parent and school custodian making
his third try for the board. He would like to strengthen
the district's vocational education programs and
supports an Alpine high school.
This election is indeed about control. It is about East
County taxpayers taking back control of their school
district.
We endorse Ken Sobel, Richard Hoy and Andrew
Sundstrom.
http://www.signonsandiego.
com/news/politics/endorsements/20061005-9999-lz2e5top.
html
San Diego Union-Tribune Endorsements
Sobel, Hoy and Sundstrom for Grossmont Union
board
October 5, 2006
What is not to like about a school board candidate
who has helped raise millions for La Mesa parks, a
college district and Grossmont High School,
developed an SAT preparation program, been a
member of two solid bond oversight committees,
served as blue ribbon commissioner for a high school
district, coached high school teams and is a lawyer
and judge pro tem?
Those credentials belong to Ken Sobel, a candidate
for Grossmont Union High School District.
Most school board presidents would jump to get
someone that experienced on the board. Not in
dysfunctional Grossmont Union, however, where
control is paramount, not quality of education or
management of taxpayer dollars.
Grossmont Union High School District
Two board seats open
Grades: 9-12
Schools: 12
Students: 24,788
Employees: 2,454
Area served: 470 square miles
Student ethnicity: white 53%, Hispanic 26%, black 7%
Per pupil spending: $8,290
Current budget: $212.6 million
President Jim Kelly, who has brought four years of
contentiousness to this district and a decade to the
county district before that, is seeing control slip away
from him. He's in an election race with five other
candidates after losing two allies on the board who
chose not to run.
On the ballot are Sobel, retired teacher Richard Hoy,
school custodian Andrew Sundstrom, engineer Shari
Groce, teacher Robert Shield and Kelly.
Consider whom this district is failing to serve:
Parents and students, particularly at Steele Canyon,
making its second attempt to break away from the
district and become a charter school, and charter
school Helix High, seeking to sever its few remaining
ties with the district.
Taxpayers, who entrusted the district with $274
million of bond money. But the district decided to
manage construction in-house and lost its two top
executives. Then, the citizen oversight committee it
named failed repeatedly to meet for lack of a quorum.
Alpine residents, who have longed for a high school
of their own for more than a decade. This district,
under Superintendent Terry Ryan, has no desire for
an Alpine campus and is only going through the
motions. Meantime, the Alpine school proponents
who are trying to woo the district can only be nice,
not candid.
Last December the district launched a proposal to go
all charter, widely seen as a ploy to divert attention
from the breakaway attempts. In April, Supt. Ryan
said nothing was being done on the all-charter plan.
In late July, he recanted his previous statement. (One
of Ryan's statements was accurate; we suspect
everyone knows which one that is.)
Recently, the new deputy superintendent for
business services said the district did not run up as
many years of deficit spending in the last seven
years as previously thought. Question: If Grossmont
Union High School District does not know whether it is
going in the red year after year, who does?
Kelly likes to demonize his opponents: The
cause of the district's problems are liberals
or Democrats or teacher unions – anyone
but whom he sees in the mirror. Desperate
for allies, though, Kelly has endorsed
Shield, a member of the teachers union
negotiating committee in another district.
We like Sobel for his extensive record of
service. An attorney, he understands the
district is wasting money by hiring five
separate law firms. Simply building an alumni
database, Sobel said, would allow the district to grow
donations many times over.
Hoy, now retired, won honors during his career as a
teacher. He has been involved with the Grossmont
Education Association in labor negotiations. The
district's all-charter plan? “I think it's dead. You can't
impose charters from the top down.”
Sundstrom is a parent and school custodian making
his third try for the board. He would like to strengthen
the district's vocational education programs and
supports an Alpine high school.
This election is indeed about control. It is about East
County taxpayers taking back control of their school
district.
We endorse Ken Sobel, Richard Hoy and Andrew
Sundstrom.
http://www.signonsandiego.
com/news/politics/endorsements/20061005-9999-lz2e5top.
html
| This website agrees with the endorsements below, but notes that the Union-Tribune has protected one of the five law firms mentioned, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, from unfavorable publicity. It would appear that the UT wants to get rid of one or more of the other firms. |
from San Diego Growth Blog
"From: xxxx
To: <char.ayers@att.net>
Subject: RE: GrossmontUHSD application?: Quatum
Meruit: Alpine's finest sued again...
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:58:55 +0000
"Of course it matters who we elect. T Ryan¢s
administration of GUHSD and Prop H was
incompetent. The Board of Trustees proved
incompetent too by exercising zero oversight (made
abundantly clear by the Bond Advisory Committee¢s
Finance Report).
"Ryan became superintendent in part by virtue of
church connections with trustee Kelly; who also knew
Ryan from the undistinguished tenures of both of
them in the County Office of Education..."
"From: xxxx
To: <char.ayers@att.net>
Subject: RE: GrossmontUHSD application?: Quatum
Meruit: Alpine's finest sued again...
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:58:55 +0000
"Of course it matters who we elect. T Ryan¢s
administration of GUHSD and Prop H was
incompetent. The Board of Trustees proved
incompetent too by exercising zero oversight (made
abundantly clear by the Bond Advisory Committee¢s
Finance Report).
"Ryan became superintendent in part by virtue of
church connections with trustee Kelly; who also knew
Ryan from the undistinguished tenures of both of
them in the County Office of Education..."
| Power shifts to Hoy, Schreiber and Urdahl By Leonel Sanchez San Diego Union Tribune November 9, 2006 EL CAJON – The election appears to have shifted the balance of power in East County's high school district, while it left the community college district much the same. Grossmont Union High School District Board President Jim Kelly was re-elected to a second term on the five-member board, but only one of the two candidates he supported, Robert Shield, a Lakeside middle school teacher, was elected with him. |
| Blog posts re Helix Charter High School Josh Stepner rescues girl and is fired, proving no good deed goes unpunished (see declaration of abandoned girl; also at bottom of this page) |
| JAMES HEILCHUCK VS. GROSSMONT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT Case 37-2009- 00067620-CU-WM-EC East County Civil Date Filed: 06/30/2009 Category: CU WM Writ of Mandate Aide is to have time sheet to Barbara Heilchuck, at the special education district office by the last working day of the month. |